GAZPROM HIRES OMC TRIO.

Gazprom, the Russian gas giant accused of mixing politics with energy supply, has hired an Omnicom trio—Gavin Anderson, Ketchum and GPlus—to improve its image in the west.

The world’s largest gas company, which was the former Soviet Gas Ministry, has cut supplies to Poland, Ukraine, Estonia and Belarus over “pricing issues” during the past 18 months.

Those disputes have western European countries questioning Russia’s role as a reliable energy partner.

The firms replace a WPP Group team that included Hill & Knowlton and Burson-Marsteller CEO Mark Penn’s polling firm of Penn Schoen & Berland Assocs.

Ken Cronin, managing director of GA, told Moscow Times that the new PR team began work for Gazprom mid-June.

Ketchum and GPlus have been working to burnish the image of the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin. That work initiated as an effort to bolster St. Petersburg’s role as host of the `06 G8 summit.

AON GOES WITH GOLINHARRIS.

Aon Corp., the $9B reinsurance giant that competes with Marsh & McLennan, has selected GolinHarris as its initial global agency of record.

Phil Clement, global chief marketing & communications officer, told O’Dwyer’s that he “cast a wide net for PR companies to participate in the RFP process.”

With operations in 120 countries, Clement said it’s vital to “communicate our messages about abating risk and building the best team approach globally.”

The firm needs to be “engaged in conversations with external stakeholders and the media in every corner of the globe,” he said.

Clement cited topics such as flow of capital, trade credit, terrorism, energy, environmental sustainability, pensions and employee compensation.”

GH/Chicago handles the account, supported by operations in the U.K., Netherlands and Australia.

Chicago-based Aon lost 176 staffers in the attack on the World Trade Center.

Las Vegas ad/PR firm R&R Partners has picked up Nevada's tourism PR account following a four firm RFP process. The 20-month contract with the Nevada Commission on Tourism was awarded after a four-month review and is worth $409K to the firm. R&R beat out two Reno-based firms, RKPR and Mass Media, and Charles Ryan Associates of West Virginia.

EVP Kathy Detwiler directs R&R's PR practice.

EDELMAN GUIDES DUBAI IN ‘STRIP’ DEAL.

Edelman is handling Dubai World as the holding company for that emirate is shelling out $5B for a 9.5 percent stake in Kirk Kerkorian’s MGM Mirage.
The 90-year-old billionaire will control a 52 percent stake in MGM following the cash infusion by the Persian Gulf state.

The deal makes DW a 50 percent owner of MGM’s City Center project, a 76-acre development in Las Vegas set to open in `09 with upscale hotels, retailers and properties.

DW can purchase up to 20 percent of MGM, which controls a third of the Las Vegas Strip and half of the city’s hotel space. Its properties include Bellagio, Mandalay bay, Mirage, New York New York, Monte Carlo and Circus Circus.

Gambling is illegal in Dubai, which made an ill-fated play for control of U.S. ports/terminals last year.

FAHN EXITS SITRICK FOR DICK CLARK.

Terry Fahn, a senior executive at Sitrick and Co., has left for the VP/comms. slot at Dick Clark Productions in Los Angeles.

DCP was recently acquired from Mosaic Media Group in a $175M deal by RedZone Capital and Six Flags Inc. Terry Bateman, CEO of DCP, noted Fahn has worked with RedZone execs in the past and has known Six Flags chairman Dan Snyder for years.

DCP, which is locating to a new space in Santa Monica, produces the American Music Awards, Golden Globes, “So You Think You Can Dance,” and “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.”

Prior to Sitrick, Fahn practiced law, including entertainment disputes, at Christensen, Miller, Fink, Jacobs, Glaser, Weil & Shapiro.

NL POSES QUESTIONS TO PRS CANDIDATES.

This newsletter has posed a series of questions to the six candidates who have been nominated for national PR Society board and officer posts-Mike Cherenson, chair-elect; Rosanna Fiske, treasurer; Mary Barber, secretary; Kathy Hubbell, N. Pacific director; Phil Tate, S.E. director, and Dave Imre, director-at-large.

Other accredited members have until Sept. 20 to file petitions that they will run against any of these candidates during the Assembly on Oct. 20 in Philadelphia.

Society leaders say that PRS sets standards not only for members but for the entire industry and that PRS is "the acknowledged brand of PR excellence."

(Continued on page 7)

SIIA ANNOUNCES COPYRIGHT WIN.

The Software & Information Industry Assn., Washington, D.C., announced the first settlement in its "Corporate Content Anti-Piracy Program"-a $300,000 agreement to settle copyright infringement claims against Knowledge Networks, San Francisco.

The firm's marketing group had been distributing "press packets" internally to certain employees on a regular basis. The packets sometimes included, "without authorization or license, copyrighted articles owned by SIAA members such as the Associated Press, Reed Elsevier, and United Press International," said the SIIA.

It learned of the infringement through a confidential tip and confirmed the tip via an investigation. The tipster is receiving $6,000 under the SIIA reward program.
Knowledge Networks expressed regret at the copying and promised to avoid any recurrence.

A statement from KN said: "Knowledge Networks disseminated copies of relevant newspaper and magazine articles in the good faith belief that it was lawful to do so.

We now understand that practice may violate the copyright rights of those publications. We regret that those violations may have occurred and we are pleased that this matter has now been resolved."

KN is taking "remedial steps" including sending staff to SIIA's Certified Content Rights Manager course to learn about compliance and meeting with the Copyright Clearance Center about content licensing.

SIIA pursues copyright infringement of members' content within organizations. This content includes text-based publications like articles in newspapers, magazines and newsletters, books, and also online works.

"As shown by cases like this one, piracy can represent a significant problem for content companies," the SIIA said.

Keith Kupferschmid, SVP of intellectual property policy & enforcement at SIIA, said: "Sooner or later, companies that pirate content are going to get caught. That's when they discover that their choice-which they thought would cut expenses-has ended up as a very costly business decision."

Recently, the SIIA reached a $205,000 settlement in an eBay software piracy case.

SIIA offers rewards ranging from $500 to $1 million for individuals who report infringement by a corporation or other organization.

Sources may contact the SIIA hotline at 800/388-7478 or use the SIIA Piracy Report Form at www.siia.net/piracy/report.

More than 550 software and information companies are members of SIIA, the principal trade association for the software and digital content industry.

Crosby-Volmer Int’l Communications won a three-way shootout for energy drink maker Living Essentials’ PR account.

Living Essentials, based in Novi, Mich. produces the 5-Hour Energy Drink brand.
Washington, D.C.-based C-V beat CKPR and Euro RSCG Magnet for the work. Billings are reported in the $500K range.

FIRMS WORK MORTGAGE CRUNCH.

The mortgage-sector woes are keeping financial PR firms busy as lenders and investors reorganize, sell assets, and pursue deals to limit damage.

Kekst and Co. is handling media relations efforts for at least two companies struggling through the financial firestorm in the mortgage sector.

Kekst is bolstering communications for Luminent Mortgage Capital, the struggling mortgage company is selling a 51 percent majority stake to Arco Capital to improve its liquidity. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Arco is getting control of Luminent for “pennies on the dollar.”

Kekst is also handling media relations for KKR Financial, the affiliate of private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts that said last week it would be getting $500 million in cash from selling shares to several banks to offset residential mortgage losses.

Other mortgage-sector companies are also moving to raise cash. Santa Fe-based Thornburg Mortgage Inc. this week sold $20.5 billion in bonds to pay down debt. That company uses Cushman/Amberg Communications to support its in-house team as agency of record.

PR firms are also involved in other aspects of the mortgage crush.

Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher, for instance, is helping investment house Lone Star make its case to abort a $400M takeover of Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co., which has Andrew Edson & Assocs. as its agency of record.

RBFF TROLLS FOR PR FIRM.

The Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation, a government-backed non-profit, is trolling for a firm to handle its $180K/year PR account.

The group, which is working to reverse a slide and changes among the demographic of water sportsmen, is eying a widespread media outreach and PR effort to back its “Take Me Fishing” advertising campaign created by Dallas-based The Richards Group last year.

The RBFF wants to stress the familial, social, health and other benefits of recreational boating and fishing. It expects to tap a firm for the $15K/month effort by mid-September. Proposals were due Aug. 24.

The group is federally funded and run by a board of directors representing the outdoor industry, public officials, tourism entities, and educators.

CABRERA HAS ISSUES AT B-M.

Jano Cabrera has moved into the issues and advocacy practice in Burson-Marsteller’s D.C. office.

As managing director, the 10-year political communications veteran reports to Josh Gottheimer, global chair of B-M’s PA practice and executive VP-worldwide. Gottheimer, speechwriter for former President Clinton, joined B-M from Ford Motor in `06.

Cabrera was deputy national spokesperson for Al Gore and comms. director at the Democratic National Committee. He was national spokesman for former Democrat Joe Lieberman’s ill-fated presidential run.

In `05, Cabrera traveled to Iraq to work with the National Democratic Institute in Baghdad on that country’s constitution.

MEREDITH SEEKS GUESTS FOR NEW SHOW.

Meredith Corp. is launching a new daytime lifestyle show, Better TV, in September and is looking for guests across various genres. The nationally syndicated program is looking for authors, experts, celebrities, chefs and entertainers to appear as studio guests or in segments.

Meredith said the show targets women 25-54 with content focusing on family, home and life. Fourteen markets will include the program's launch, including Portland, Phoenix and Hartford. It will also air on the broadband network www.better.tv and be cross-promoted by Meredith magazines like Better Homes and Gardens, Family Circle, and Ladies' Home Journal.

Marianne Mancusi handles booking at [email protected] or 212/499-2295.

LATOUR TAPPED FOR WSJ ONLINE.

Almar Latour becomes managing editor of the Wall Street Journal Online on Sept. 5.

He takes over for Bill Grueskin, who was named deputy managing editor of the Wall Street Journal.

Latour is bureau chief of the technology group in New York. The move is the latest effort to integrate the print and online outlets.

The Dutchman started his Dow Jones career as an intern in Brussels for the European WSJ. He moved to NYC in ’03 to cover phone companies, and assumed his current post in '05.

TIME INC. REORGS SOUTHERN PROGRESS.

Time Inc. has revamped the newly forged digital operation of Southern Progress, which publishes titles like Southern Living, Southern Accents, Cottage Living, Coastal Living, Sunset and Cooking Light.

Jim Sexton, who was senior VP at Scripps Network's interactive brands unit, is now senior VP and editorial director of SPC Digital.

The Birmingham-based Sexton also is responsible for SPC's just launched MyRecipes.com and the upcoming MyHomeIdeas.com.

Steve Zales, CEO of Inform Technologies and a former general manager of ESPN's Internet Group, has been named senior VP and GM.

Dane Sorensen, a consultant to the SP sites, takes the marketing director post, in charge of brand and business development. He is a veteran of Land's End.

RUSSIANS TURN OFF BBC.

Bolshoye Radio, which distributed the BBC's FM broadcast in Russia, has tuned out the British news service, dismissing it as "foreign propaganda."

The Beeb's Russian-language station is now only available on medium and short-wave radio broadcasts.

The hand of Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen in the move to crack down on the BBC.

Relations between Britain and Russia have deteriorated, and Putin has used Russia's growing energy wealth to mount a more muscular diplomatic approach to the west.

The BBC station is to be replaced with original programming expected to be more in tune with Putin.

GRANT RETURNS TO WABC.

Bob Grant, who was fired from New York's WABC-AM in '95 for a comment about the airplane crash that killed former Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, has returned to the station to handle the 8-10 p.m. time slot.

The 78-year-old talk show host is credited for being a pioneer of conservative radio programming.

Grant did "fill-in" duties at WABC after officially retiring from WOR-AM in '06 after a ten-year run.

He was fired by Walt Disney Co., which sold WABC to Citadel Broadcasting this year. Image-conscious Disney faced pressure after Grant said following news reports about a person surviving the plane crash that he had a hunch Brown survived, but he was a "pessimist at heart."

Grant said he didn't mean to hurt anybody with the remark, and it was no worse than other things that he had said. He told the Daily News that if "some sicko wants to dredge it up," he will deal with the Brown controversy.

BW PLANS REGIONAL EDITION.

BusinessWeek said it will launch a monthly regional edition for Chicago in November.

Written and edited in the magazine's Chicago bureau and focused on dealings in the Windy City, BusinessWeek Chicago will be led by Michael Arndt, a senior correspondent in the bureau serving as editor of BWC.

The debut issue will have a controlled circulation of 60,000 and will be sent to a selected list of BW subscribers and "key decision makers" in the Chicago area.

MTV, REALNETWORKS TAKE ON iTUNES.

Viacom's MTV Networks and RealNetworks have formed Rhapsody America to give Apple's iTunes a run for its money in the digital music space.

MTV will contribute video content and subscribers to its Urge music service to the venture.

It also will heavily promote RA to its cable audience as the "music service of choice." That effort kicks off at MTV's marquee event, the Video Music Awards, which airs live from Las Vegas on Sept. 9.

Rhapsody had been charging users a flat monthly fee of $12.99 for unlimited tunes. RA's pricing has not been announced.

Verizon Communications and U.K.'s Vodaphone are partners of RA. They will supply a mobile distribution platform.

Rob Glaser, CEO of RealNetworks, believes the new venture represents a "sea-change in the digital music market."

He promises to make RA the "premier digital music service" that delivers tunes to users "whenever and wherever they want."

RA will have offices in New York, Seattle and San Francisco.

Yahoo! has named Jim Schinella senior VP-corporate partnerships. He had been global VP-business development for mobile and broadband.

(Media news continued on next page)

AP, MTV: ’NET IS HAPPINESS FOR YOUTH.

Most young Americans are happy with their lives and feel good about the future and technology is a big part of that satisfaction and optimism, according to a study by The Associated Press and MTV.

Sixty-five percent of young people aged 13-24 said they were happy, a figure that carries a larger percentage of whites (72 percent) compared with blacks (56 percent) and Hispanics (51 percent).

Less than half (44%) of the young respondents cited religion and spirituality as an integral part of their overall happiness.

So what causes their happiness? Half of the young people polled said the Internet alone makes them smile and nearly the same number said they never turn their cellphones off.

Many said they would be more stressed out without technology.

The AP and MTV poll noted that money and its relationship to the happiness of young people "is a complicated issue."

Many young people cited financial woes as a source of unhappiness, but almost none cited money as a source of happiness.

Seventy percent said they want to be rich and half of that group think it's "at least somewhat likely." Only 29 percent said they want to be famous.

MTV and the AP worked with D.C.-based Social Technologies and Knowledge Networks.

Interviews of 1,280 young people were conducted in late April for the study.

ESPN BUYS RUGBY SITE.

Walt Disney's ESPN unit has purchased rugby site, Scrum.com, from Emap in advance of the Ruby World Cup.

The move follows its purchase of Cricinfo, a cricket site, by ESPN in June.

ESPN already owns ESPNsoccernet.com, which gives it coverage of the "top three sports" in many international markets, according to Lynne Frank, managing director of ESPN Europe, Middle East and Africa.

ESPN has the rights to air the '07 and '11 Rugby World Cups in Latin America.
Disney’s ABC News, meanwhile, dropped about ten graphics staffers in Washington as president David Westin mounts his program of redeploying assets to digital. The firm has shifted graphics production to N.Y.

STACKPOLE RESIGNS SIPA POST.

Kerry Stackpole, executive director of the Specialized Information Publishers Assn., has resigned after a 10-month stint.

The announcement was made in SIPA's Hotline newsletter. The resignation is for "personal reasons."

Patti Wysocki, former executive secretary of the group, is filling in on a part-time basis to assure that SIPA meetings and events go off without a hitch.

Wayne Cooper, of Greenhaven Partners, is head of the search team that expects to find Stackpole's replacement by the end of the year.

SANDERS HITS FOX NEWS.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and filmmaker Robert Greenwald have launched an online campaign to encourage TV broadcasters not to follow the lead of Fox News, which they believe is agitating for an invasion of Iran.

Fox, according to Sanders, is a "megaphone" for President Bush's policies and a "propaganda machine" for the Republican party.

Sanders and Greenwald want people to sign a letter addressed to ABC, CBS, NBC, MSBNC and CNN that is posted on the foxattacks.com site.

It includes a quote from CNN's Christiane Amanpour, who claims that her network leading up to the Iraq invasion, was "intimidated by the Administration and its foot soldiers at Fox News."

The letter accuses the News Corp. unit of "beating the drums for war with Iran." It says the networks have a "sacred responsibility to the American people to provide accurate and reliable information so we can best make the decisions which affect our lives."

Greenwald is director of "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism." Sanders is a Socialist who caucuses with Democrats. In February, he introduced a resolution "expressing the sense of Congress that the President should not initiate military action against Iran without first obtaining authorization from Congress."

The foxattacks site is backed by a coalition of liberal groups including the Sierra Club, MoveOn.org, Media Matters, Free Press and Democrats.com.

It calls an invasion of Iran "bananas," noting that the country is bigger than a combined Afghanistan and Iraq. There are also 66M Iranians compared to 59M people in Iraq and Afghanistan.

People _______________________

Music magazine Paste has brought in Atlanta Journal-Constitution pop music critic Nick Marino to serve as managing editor.

Marino's byline has appeared in publications including Entertainment Weekly, Spin, and the Boston Globe.

Paste, based in Decatur, Ga., has also promoted music editor Jason Killingsworth to deputy editor. He recently penned cover stories on Christopher Guest and The White Stripes.

Briefs ____________________________

New York-based 5W PR is cheering its debut at #153 on the 2007 Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies in America.

The firm was founded in December 2002. "Thus far, this is the proudest moment for 5W PR since the creation of the firm," said Ronn Torossian, president/CEO.

Tribune Co. shareholders signed off on the $8.2B deal to take the company private under real estate giant Sam Zell.

Dow Jones noted that once the deal is in place Tribune will be roughly $13B in debt in the midst of a tight credit market.

Since WPP ad/PR units set such great store by awards won (8/22 editorial) we contacted Ogilvy Worldwide, whose Ogilvy One unit (direct marketing and digital media) said it won no fewer than 595 awards in 2006. We're seeking a list of those awards.

Our first phone call was to Ogilvy "chief marketing officer" Eleanor Mascheroni whose duties include handling "press and general inquiries."

She was unreachable as were top executives at either the parent Ogilvy or Ogilvy One. A PR staffer then told us awards was a "WPP matter."

WPP CEO Martin Sorrell was e-mailed the question but would not answer it. We also brought up the subject of WPP's debt which was about $4.8 billion at the end of 2006 according to Bloomberg.

WPP does not report "total debt" but only "net debt," subtracting cash on hand. U.S. analysts and CPAs say this is not an acceptable practice. WPP reported "net debt" of 1.214B pounds at the end of 2006 and "average net debt" (even worse say U.S. analysts) up "only" 39M pounds to 1.029B pounds. The pound is worth about $2.

Asked how WPP arrives at its "net debt" figure, Sorrell directed us to the credit rating agencies of Fitch, Standard & Poor's and Moody's and security analyst reports. We're not questioning the credit worthiness of WPP but it seems to us that bank loans of $4.8B in relation to 2006 revenues of $11.75B are quite high. We'd also like to discuss WPP's net tangible assets of -$5.2 billion (because it is carrying $11.6B in good will) and the fact that 2006 payables of $12.1B exceeded receivables of $8.8 billion. Analyst reports of Lehman, Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, and UBS have a "buy" on WPP while Morgan Stanley has an "equal-weight." MS was disappointed that WPP's 4-5% share buybacks were offset by "higher than expected issuance of shares [to insiders] under its various options schemes."

The issue here is U.K. vs. U.S. financial reporting standards. WPP reported overall PR fees grew 5.9% in 2006 not counting acquisitions and were 10.1% of revenues or $1.15B. A gain of 5.9% in revenues is no great shakes when 20 of the 50 largest U.S. independent PR firms documented gains of more than 20% in 2006.

But the prose in the WPP report is highly enthusiastic about the PR units although no dollar or staff totals are given. Hill & Knowlton had its "strongest revenue growth in over six years" while Cohn & Wolfe had "another stellar year with significant growth in both top and bottom lines." GCI had a "strong year" and Ogilvy PR "enjoyed continued global expansion of client engagements throughout 2006." Burson-Marsteller saw "continued improvement in profitability and revenue growth" and Robinson Lerer & Montgomery "turned in excellent financial results."

The profit margin on PR, led by Howard Paster, went from just over 10% "several years ago" to 15%. Reading these glowing reports sans dollar and staff totals is like reading sports pages that have no statistics, i.e., "Baseball Team X had a wonderful day at bat and in the field yesterday, scoring many runs and fielding flawlessly…Tiger Woods played very well, especially his tee shots," etc.

We urge readers to mail or fax us their opinions on key matters facing PR Society candidates (pages 1 & 7 poll). The Society says it represents non-members as well as members and so candidates should be guided by opinions of both non-members and members…the governance of PRS is such that leaders are insulated from the opinions of rank-and-file members. This was illustrated in the 2006 Assembly when not one of the other 110 chapters supported the well-researched and reasoned proposal of Central Michigan to make the Assembly the chief policy-making body of PRS (as it is at the American Medical and American Bar Assns.). The power of the national board and h.q. over chapters was awesome. The board has numerous carrots and sticks to keep the chapters in line…PRS/National Capital led the fight against CM, 2006 chapter president Tracy Schario of George Washington Univ. saying the CM bylaw would "turn PRS governance on its head." Other "Swift Boat" arguments were that insurance would be required on all 300 delegates and that the Assembly already had sufficient powers. As a reward for such loyalty, PRS/NCC has been the only chapter that new COO Bill Murray visited this year…APR remains highly popular at NCC although it has little traction with most members. A total of 391 new APRs of PRS were created in the first three years of the new test or 130 yearly (vs. an average of 259 yearly from 1996-2001)…Sandra Wills Hannon, Ph.D., of The Hannon Group and president of NCC (PRS's biggest chapter with 1,100+ members) is APR as is president-elect Heathere Evans-Keenan of Keenan PR. But none of the other six officers are. However, ten of the 12 Assembly delegates are APR. NCC delegates voted unanimously for decoupling APR from the Assembly in 2004 when that bylaw change was sought by national leadership…the Princeton Review, the leading source of information on colleges for prospective undergrads, has stuck a large harpoon into the PR academic community by, in effect, saying "PR" courses are a waste of time and money (page 7). College is very expensive these days (often $100K+ for four years).

PRS, IABC, NIRI and other groups have not reached out to college students. The Student Society of PRS only has 9,600 members in chapters at 284 colleges although there are 4,000 colleges (2,400 four-year institutions) and eight million undergrads.

The Student Society is 40 this year, created by the 1967 Assembly at the urging of 1967 PRS president Carroll Bateman.

The current trend is to merge ad/PR/journalism courses under one dept. or create new "communications" depts. that include PR and other subjects. "PR" has also practically disappeared from corporations and institutions which prefer "corporate communications."

--Jack O'Dwyer